Caipirinhas, samba, Havaianas and a host of other Brazilian traditions and products are popular in Germany - and not just during the Olympic Games. Here are a few of our favorite Brazilian exports.
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10 Brazilian exports that are popular in Germany
Germans love the Brazilian way of life and have adopted these 10 things from the South American country.
Image: Imago/imagebroker
The cocktail: caipirinha
The recipe is simple: limes, cachaça, sugar and ice. But the secret lies in the skillful crushing of the limes. The success of the caipirinha dates back to the late 90s and it's now available in nearly every bar. In Germany, the caipirinha is made with brown sugar and crushed ice, while in Brazil you'll find it with white sugar and whole ice cubes. The drink is generally served with two straws.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/T.Lang
The national dish: feijoada
In nearly every large German city, you're bound to stumble upon a Brazilian restaurant. In addition to the popular meat dishes, "feijoada" is a staple on every Brazilian menu. Originally meant for slaves, the black bean stew has since become the country's national dish. It's typically made with dried meat and pigs' ears and feet, and it's served with "farofa" (roasted manioc flour) and rice.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/N. Tondini
The martial art: capoeira
Capoeira has also been passed down by slaves. They disguised the martial art as a dance, in order to fool their captors. Two people stand in the midde of a circle - the "roda" - and gracefully direct hits and kicks and each other to the music of a one-string "berimbau." Learning capoeira is a popular pastime in Germany - but careful! It will challenge your inner acrobat.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
The bestselling writers: Amado and Coelho
Two Brazilian writers in particular are popular among German readers. Bahianer Jorge Amado, who died in 2001, portrays ordinary people's struggle to survive in novels like "Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon" (1958). Paulo Coelho (pictured) became famous with "The Alchemist" (1988), in which he accompanies the reader on a spiritual journey.
Image: Getty Images
The dance: samba
It's nearly impossible to resist the hypnotic sound of samba rhythms. Since the 1950s, the samba has been a regular part of courses at German ballroom dance schools. It's only been recently that the lambada is giving it a run for its money as the most popular Brazilian dance in Germany. Samba dancers at the annual Carnival festivities in Bremen pull out all the stops to exude a true Rio feeling.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Jaspersen
The percussion: batucada
Where there are samba dancers, "batucada" is not far away. That refers to the percussion style used in samba music. The percussion ensembles, known as "bateria," don't reserve their performances for Carnival season, but can also be heard at festivals, demonstrations, large events like marathons - or simply in local parks.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/D. Ebener
The flip-flops: Havaianas
The most popular flip-flops in Brazil are from the brand, Havaianas. The footwear is inspired by the 19th-century Japanese zori sandal, which was made of grass. On June 14, 1962, the first rubber flip-flops were released on the Brazilian market and sales skyrocketed. Today, they are available in every imaginable color and style and Havaianas exports all over the world.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
The Brazilian bikini: string tanga
The bikini was invented in France, not Brazil, in 1946, but in the 1970s, Brazilian designers presented the tiniest swimsuit bottom yet. It was just a strip of cloth the width of a shoelace, meant to fit snugly in the middle of the wearer's rear end. In Brazil - and Germany too - the string tanga became known as the dental floss bikini. They continue to be popular at Rio's Copacabana (pictured).
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Knosowski
The energy plant: guarana
The plant from the Amazon is said to give you energy when you're fatigued. That's because it contains five times as much caffeine as a coffee bean, but has fewer side-effects. The native Brazilians have used guarana for centuries as an energy source. In Germany, it is harder to find Brazil's popular soda pop "Guaraná," but the seed is readily available in the form of a powder, capsule or tee.
Image: CC-BY-Nevertime
The architect: Oscar Niemeyer
Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer designed a house in Berlin, located next to the park at the Bellevue Palace, where Germany's president resides. It's the star architect's only work in Germany. Niemeyer, who was otherwise active in Brazil's capital, Brasília, made this contribution to the International Architecture Exhibition in 1957. The house is considered a monument to the New Modern style.
Image: Imago/imagebroker
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"A caipirinha, please!" Thirty years ago, a server would have shaken her head and asked, "What's a caipirinha?" But now, you can find one in nearly every bar in Germany. Here, though it's served with brown cane sugar and crushed ice, though the authentic Brazilian version is made with plain white sugar and conventional ice cubes.
And while the Germans refer to caipirinhas as simply "Caipis," from the Amazon to Rio Grande do Sul, you'll have to say the whole word.
Positive clichés
The Germans, and not only the Germans, love Brazil in spite of all the negative headlines that seem to have dominated pre-Olympics coverage, concerning corruption, poverty and violence in the favelas. Here, clichés about the Brazilians are almost always positive.
One of those is that Brazilians have a positive attitude all the time. It's almost infectious, and has become closely associated with Brazilian culture - or rather cultures. Brazil, 24 times the size of Germany and populated by more than 200 million people, has very diverse ethnic roots, including the Indios, the descendents of Portuguese and Dutch colonialists, various West African ethnic groups who were brought to South America as slaves, and new immigrants from Europe and Asia.
Many cultural traditions have been mixed together, and what came out was a rich cultural tradition that's certainly not limited to soccer, samba and carnival.
From Samba to redneck music
There are two typically Brazilian things, however, that don't need to be imported to Germany by Brazil fans, namely soccer and carnival. They've already been around in Germany for ages. But there are other things that were totally foreign to Germany before they came here - like samba, which made its debut here in the 1950s with gentlemen clad in suits and ladies in flared skirts.
Neither their dancing attire nor their performances or dancing steps bore little resemblance to real Brazilian samba. The 1950s European version of samba adopted the rhythm, but not really much more than that. In 1959, samba was first included in ballroom dance contests as one of the standard Latin American styles.
That same era also saw the introduction of the dance "bossa nova" and a growing fascination for Brazilian music. Superstars like Gilberto Gil and, later, Daniela Mercury, who were representatives of the so-called "música popular brasileira" (MPB), filled German concert halls in the 1990s.
From 2010 onwards, other types of Brazilian music followed suit, among them "música sertaneja," which originated in the rural northeastern part of the country. One of the hits in the genre was "Eu te pego!" by Michel Teló. By that time, even more Brazilian music genres were readily available, such as "forró," "axé" and "pagode." Not to forget in this list are the "batucada" drum groups that can sometimes be seen accompanying large events in German cities.
Pig ears, flip-flops and G-strings
Yet another Brazilian word that Germans don't know how to pronounce is "feijoada" referring to a Brazilian national dish consisting of beans and pigs' ears and feet. In almost all big German cities you can find a Brazilian restaurant that offers the stew - even if it's not cooked according to the original recipe, which includes hairy claws and pointed ears. But those are ingredients that probably don't go over so well among German customers.
Even without hairy pig claws, feijoada is not everyone's cup of tea. Neither is the martial dance "capoeira." However, there are numerous everyday items that most Germans probably don't even know come from Brazil. The popular "Havaianas" flip-flops, for example, originated in the Latin American country, even though their name alludes to the US island of Hawaii.
And then there is the G-string bikini, which was first worn on the Copacabana in the 1970s. Only few German women dare to follow their example, preferring just a tiny bit more cloth in the form of thongs. Maybe that's due to the fact that most beach beauties nowadays - on both sides of the Atlantic - are on average a few pounds heavier than they were 20 years ago.
10 Brazilian exports that are popular in Germany
Germans love the Brazilian way of life and have adopted these 10 things from the South American country.
Image: Imago/imagebroker
The cocktail: caipirinha
The recipe is simple: limes, cachaça, sugar and ice. But the secret lies in the skillful crushing of the limes. The success of the caipirinha dates back to the late 90s and it's now available in nearly every bar. In Germany, the caipirinha is made with brown sugar and crushed ice, while in Brazil you'll find it with white sugar and whole ice cubes. The drink is generally served with two straws.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/T.Lang
The national dish: feijoada
In nearly every large German city, you're bound to stumble upon a Brazilian restaurant. In addition to the popular meat dishes, "feijoada" is a staple on every Brazilian menu. Originally meant for slaves, the black bean stew has since become the country's national dish. It's typically made with dried meat and pigs' ears and feet, and it's served with "farofa" (roasted manioc flour) and rice.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/N. Tondini
The martial art: capoeira
Capoeira has also been passed down by slaves. They disguised the martial art as a dance, in order to fool their captors. Two people stand in the midde of a circle - the "roda" - and gracefully direct hits and kicks and each other to the music of a one-string "berimbau." Learning capoeira is a popular pastime in Germany - but careful! It will challenge your inner acrobat.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
The bestselling writers: Amado and Coelho
Two Brazilian writers in particular are popular among German readers. Bahianer Jorge Amado, who died in 2001, portrays ordinary people's struggle to survive in novels like "Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon" (1958). Paulo Coelho (pictured) became famous with "The Alchemist" (1988), in which he accompanies the reader on a spiritual journey.
Image: Getty Images
The dance: samba
It's nearly impossible to resist the hypnotic sound of samba rhythms. Since the 1950s, the samba has been a regular part of courses at German ballroom dance schools. It's only been recently that the lambada is giving it a run for its money as the most popular Brazilian dance in Germany. Samba dancers at the annual Carnival festivities in Bremen pull out all the stops to exude a true Rio feeling.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Jaspersen
The percussion: batucada
Where there are samba dancers, "batucada" is not far away. That refers to the percussion style used in samba music. The percussion ensembles, known as "bateria," don't reserve their performances for Carnival season, but can also be heard at festivals, demonstrations, large events like marathons - or simply in local parks.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/D. Ebener
The flip-flops: Havaianas
The most popular flip-flops in Brazil are from the brand, Havaianas. The footwear is inspired by the 19th-century Japanese zori sandal, which was made of grass. On June 14, 1962, the first rubber flip-flops were released on the Brazilian market and sales skyrocketed. Today, they are available in every imaginable color and style and Havaianas exports all over the world.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
The Brazilian bikini: string tanga
The bikini was invented in France, not Brazil, in 1946, but in the 1970s, Brazilian designers presented the tiniest swimsuit bottom yet. It was just a strip of cloth the width of a shoelace, meant to fit snugly in the middle of the wearer's rear end. In Brazil - and Germany too - the string tanga became known as the dental floss bikini. They continue to be popular at Rio's Copacabana (pictured).
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Knosowski
The energy plant: guarana
The plant from the Amazon is said to give you energy when you're fatigued. That's because it contains five times as much caffeine as a coffee bean, but has fewer side-effects. The native Brazilians have used guarana for centuries as an energy source. In Germany, it is harder to find Brazil's popular soda pop "Guaraná," but the seed is readily available in the form of a powder, capsule or tee.
Image: CC-BY-Nevertime
The architect: Oscar Niemeyer
Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer designed a house in Berlin, located next to the park at the Bellevue Palace, where Germany's president resides. It's the star architect's only work in Germany. Niemeyer, who was otherwise active in Brazil's capital, Brasília, made this contribution to the International Architecture Exhibition in 1957. The house is considered a monument to the New Modern style.